Shub-Niggurath resembles a perverted fertility goddess, and her cultists follow her example. They revel in lust and gluttony and often react with anger and aggression, and while they are not necessarily stupid, their raw emotions rule rather than intellect. Their cult rituals seem like bloodthirsty orgies to outsiders. Their own lives no longer matter, as they are caught up in service to the goddess and her needs.

Many of her cultists are lowly deviants, rejected from society as perverts or lunatics. Higher class devotees often start out as dilettantes and hedonists, but soon make the changeover to full, paranoid madness. Most members eventually become depraved and licentious serial killers.

Though insane, cultists of the Black Goat generally manage to keep their madness under wraps most of the time, allowing them to appear more or less normal around others. They live a secret life, in which they are devoted to the Goat, alongside a normal life, in which their neighbors and friends may have no idea about the awful horrors beneath the surface.

Like other Mythos sects, the cultists of the Black Goat are not focused on any kind of coherent afterlife: their reward is in the here and now. Indeed, the cult’s massive orgies are their reward for worship. Finding new members increases the pleasure and depth of these demented worship services, in which the awful offspring of the Black Goat take full part. Constantly seeking new meat for their goddess’s pleasure, cultists evangelize and lure unsuspecting recruits deeper into the mysteries with promises of increasingly intense carnality.

Sometimes cultists are able to build up a cult in a city or developed area, while other times they restrict their activities to the woodlands and wilderness. Depravity can be found everywhere, and the Goat is flexible and undiscriminating.

Typically, the cult leaders of the Goat are not human: Shub-Niggurath prefers dark young, fungi from Yuggoth, ghouls, and other monstrous forces to lead the lesser human mob. Monstrous minions are often more reliable, particularly compared to the bulk of human cultists whose minds are often warped by the orgies and rituals of the Black Goat’s worship. Also, if and when the authorities descend upon such a cult, seeding the ranks with monstrous combatants helps the cult survive. The mi-go make particularly effective masters of these cults, infusing the organization with their alien technology and using the mad humans for breeding purposes.

Some cults of the Black Goat are able to take over entire communities. In these cases, they often encourage or force most community members to crossbreed with satyrs and other monsters and drink of the mother’s milk, thus devolving into monstrosities themselves. In due course, entire villages of monsters can arise in which everyone is a Mythos satyr, ghoul, or other hybrid. Of course, the most deformed villagers stay in hiding except after dark, while those who look more normal wear clothing to attempt to conceal their true natures. If the cult is careful, other folks may travel through or even visit the cursed land and never know the truth.

Black Goat Cult Gifts

Fertility: The cultists' fields, animals, and even their persons are all subject to the influence of Shub-Niggurath’s horrific fertility powers. Their cattle might all birth triplets. Of course, those triplets are likely to be two-headed or otherwise deformed, but they are still useful for milking and slaughter.

Frenzy: The cultists' total devotion to their emotions allows them to go berserk in combat, ignoring their own safety in their bloodlust. This makes them surprisingly dangerous in a fight, even when unarmed. They often gain the delirium warrior barbarian archetype.

Gift of the Mother: Shub-Niggurath often gives her cult leaders and those who have done her services special “presents”—living horrors they can (mostly) control and keep for their own. These monsters include mutated animal companions, outer mutant familiars, and even dark young.

The Milk of the Mother: Shub-Niggurath’s own maternal secretions have amazing mutagenic powers. (See milk of Shub- Niggurath on the Alchemical Mythos Items page.)

Treasures: Goat cultists led by the mi-go can sometimes procure their technology, including brain cylinders, sensory machines, and mist projectors.